20 December 2024. Congratulations to Nadège for her first-author article accepted for publication in Nature Communications, and to all co-authors! In this article, We show that the histone deacetylase HDAC8 counteracts hypoxia-dependent conversion of sensory Schwann cells into their Repair phenotype after a peripheral nerve injury. In the absence of HDAC8, the regrowth of sensory axons and sensory function recovery are faster. In addition to identifying a target to promote the regeneration of the nervous system after injury, this study also shows that the Repair Schwann cell phenotype is controlled by different mechanisms in sensory and motor Schwann cells. These findings open up many conceptual questions that we are eager to work on!
Nadège Hertzog, Mert Duman, Maëlle Bochud, Valérie Brügger-Verdon, Maren Gerhards, Felicia Schön, Franka Dorndecker, Dies Meijer, Robert Fledrich, Ruth Stassart, Devanarayanan Siva Sankar, Jörn Dengjel, Sofía Raigón López, Claire Jacob. Hypoxia-induced conversion of sensory Schwann cells into repair cells is regulated by HDAC8. Nature Communications (in press). Link to published article coming soon!
20 November 2024. Our InteReg Project has been funded by the Carl Zeiss Stiftung! We are very excited to start this project and find regenerative solutions for Multiple sclerosis, brain and spinal cord injuries! We have 4 PhD positions available within our initiative. Visit our website for more information: https://intereg.uni-mainz.de/czs-initiative/
Link to our Press release in German and in English
Andreas Walther (left), Claire Jacob and Ari Waisman (right) are leading InteReg together, Photo © Dominik Gruszczyk
16 October 2024. A very big CONGRATULATIONS! to Nadège for defending so brilliantly her PhD. Nadège received an extremely well deserved summa cum laude for her PhD!
21 June 2023, We were very happy to welcome at the Biozentrum I Alexander Steinhoff from the Mainzer Wissenschaftsstiftung, who supported our clinical trial project for the repair of lesions in multiple sclerosis patients! It was great to meet and discuss our project in more details and learn about the goals of the Foundation. Article in Fördern & Stiften JGU Mainz October 2023
October 2023, Our most advanced work to repair lesions in Multiple Sclerosis patients and other demyelinating conditions got featured in the FAZ! Article Theophylline patch in FAZ
Wie Nerven zu neuem Leben erweckt werden
June 2023, Katharina started her Master in our lab.
Welcome, Katharina!
13 June 2023. Gianluigi defended his PhD.
Congratulations, Gianluigi!
14 October 2022. Himanshu joined our lab as a Postdoc to work on a collaborative project with the group of Martin Heine (also at the IDN), and the groups of Andreas Walther and Pol Besenius (both in the Dept of Chemistry).
Welcome, Himanshu!
1 September 2021. Gunnar joined our lab to do his Master with us through the ERASMUS program. Welcome, Gunnar!
10 August 2021. Xinda joined our lab as internship student and will soon start his PhD with us. Welcome, Xinda!
19 August 2020. Mert's Farewell Party. After a very productive PhD and short Postdoc with us, first in Fribourg (Switzerland) and then here in Mainz, Mert went on to the University of Bern in Switzerland to continue his career as a Postdoc in Neuroscience. We all wish Mert the best of luck and a lot of success for his new career step!
9 July 2020. Congratulations to Mert, the first author, and to all co-authors of our new publication in Nature Communications! In this article, we elucidate a major mechanism that controls myelination and remyelination after lesion and we identify a treatment that promotes remyelination in the peripheral and central nervous systems after traumatic or demyelinating lesions.
Duman M, Vaquié A,Nocera G, Heller M, Stumpe M, Siva Sankar D, Dengjel J, Meijer D, Yamaguchi T, Matthias P, Zeis T, Schaeren-Wiemers N, Hayoz A, Ruff S, Jacob C (2020). EEF1A1 deacetylation enables transcriptional activation of remyelination. Nature Communications 11: 3420. Link to publication
Link to Podcast with Nele Handwerker: in English, in German
15 July 2019. Our first Summer Party at BZ1!
Nothing wrong with solid planning... Video
11 June 2019. Our first publication in Mainz and our first cover! Congratulations to Adrien, the first author, and to all co-authors of this article published in Cell Reports! This study identifies a novel aspect of Schwann cell plasticity required for timely clearing of damaged axons and axonal regrowth after lesion and its triggering mechanism, which depends on VEGFR1. In addition, we show that this behavior can be transferred into mature oligodendrocytes after axonal lesion in our microfluidic models.
Vaquié A, Sauvain A, Duman M, Nocera G, Egger B, Meyenhofer F, Falquet L, Bartesaghi L, Chrast R, Lamy CM, Bang S, Lee S-R, Jeon NL, Ruff S, Jacob C (2019). Injured axons instruct Schwann cells to build constricting actin spheres to accelerate axonal disintegration. Cell Reports 27: 3152–3166. Link to publication, Link to press release
27 September 2018. Prof. Jacob receives the IRP Schellenberg Research Prize together with Prof. Götz
Photo © Urs Albrecht, Fribourg (CH). From left to right: Prof. Andreas J. Steck, Philippe Boissonnas, Prof. Magdalena Götz, Prof. Claire Jacob, Prof. Theodor Landis